Dragonball: Eternal Ascent
by lunar2eternal
Summary: What if the events of the Dead Zone actually happened? Follow our heroes as they react to finding a Raditz level opponent before Raditz.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: My name is not Akira Toriyama. Therefore, I do not own Dragonball._

_Narrator: Garlic Jr.'s grand schemes have come to an end, like a dream within a dream, thanks to the power of Goku and the others. Goku thought about whether he should tell Chichi about how he had been saved by his son, Gohan…_

Goku looked down at his son, clasped to his knee on the nimbus. Gohan looked up, and grinned at his daddy. Goku smiled back, but inwardly, he was worried. 'Garlic was way powerful, stronger than me and Piccolo together. I didn't know it was possible to be so strong. I'll have to train that much harder, in case someone like that comes again.' Goku glanced back at his son, and wondered at his power. 'Gohan is so strong, and he doesn't even know it. Chichi would never believe that he saved everyone today. He doesn't even remember it himself.' Goku knew he had to start training gohan, but he would never get chichi to agree, unless…

* * *

"Absolutely not, Goku! We've been through this already, and you agreed. Our son is not going to be a fighter; he is going to be a scholar!" Chichi yelled at her husband when he brought up the idea of training Gohan over dinner that night.

"Come on, Chichi. You saw how strong those guys were. And their boss, Garlic, was stronger than me! I'm not going to make him a fighter, but he needs to be able to take care of himself incase someone strong like garlic shows up again." Goku laid out his case, quickly and calmly. He was not going to fight, but he was not taking no for an answer.

"That Garlic fiend was an exception. You even said Kami told you he'd been planning his revenge for 300 years. What are the odds anyone like that would show up again?" Chichi had caught on to Goku's attitude, and if he thought he could win her over just by being calm, she could play that game.

"It wasn't just him, though. Even his goons were strong enough to challenge me. I won't feel safe unless Gohan," here Goku sighed, bringing in the final part of his plan, "and you are able to defend yourself from monsters like them."

"Wait, you want me to start training again, too? No way, I have too much to do already. I have to keep up with Gohan's lessons, clean, cook for both of you. There's just too much to do for me to train too."

"Well, I could help with the cleaning. I'm not much of a cook, though. But Gohan spends too much time studying, anyway. I stopped in Orange City on the way home, and I found out some things. Did you know that kids normally don't start going to school until they're five? You've had Gohan studying since his third birthday. They also spend eight hours a day, five days a week in school for about eight months out of the year. You have Gohan studying twelve hours a day, every day. It's too much. If Gohan cuts back his studying to normal, then you won't have to work so hard keeping up with his lessons. Here's a deal. He studies eight hours a day, four days a week, all year. You both train with me for two hours on those days. The next day, you both train with me for eight hours. The day after that we all take off. The last day we train again."

"How many times do I have to say no!" Chichi began getting angry again. She couldn't imagine Gohan not studying. "Gohan needs to study so he can get into a good university. We don't have the money to send him, so he has to get a scholarship. I don't like pushing him so hard, but if he's going to be a doctor, he has to work hard."

"Chichi, calm down!" Goku snapped. He had had enough of her pointless worrying. "We still have nearly a million zenni from the 23rd budokai. The new stadium is going to be finished within the next few years. And get this. Not only are they doubling the prize, but there will also be a second place prize. Even if I somehow don't win, I just have to make it to the final round, and we're set for years again. Money won't be an issue. And if you start training, we'll have 2 chances of winning the prize, and we might even get both prizes." Goku took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to say. "Chichi, I'm through with this argument. Gohan is going to start training, and that's that. If you don't want him to train, then you have to get strong enough to stop me from training him."

Chichi stared, dumbfounded. Goku never pushed this hard for anything. It finally began to sink in just how serious this was for him. "Fine. You can start training us, just like you said before. But as soon as the two of us together are able to beat you, that is it! You hear me?"

Goku laughed, and scratched the back of his head. "That's all I even wanted."

* * *

Master Roshi was watching one of his favorite exercise videos, when he heard a thump coming from upstairs. He climbed the stairs, and found Krillin packing a knapsack with a few sets of his gi. "So, you're leaving? I figured you would, after today."

Krillin looked up at the old hermit, and sighed. "Yeah, I can't stand being too weak to do anything. I'm the third or fourth strongest fighter on the planet, but Garlic was way out of my league. Even his goons were stronger than me! It's just not right."

"I understand," the old master responded. "It's not easy seeing others pass you by. In fact, I think I'll start training again, too. Although at my age, I doubt it will do much good. I'm about capped out. But you're young, you can get much stronger. So, where will you go?"

The short monk shrugged, and turned back to packing. "I was thinking about heading to Korin's tower, and seeing if I can get an audience with Kami. He trained Goku; maybe I can get him to train me. If not, I'll go to Baba and ask her where I should go. At the very least, I can get a good workout in her tournament."

Roshi nodded his head. "Sounds like a plan, but I have one suggestion. Go to Baba's first. Then, if she says to go to someone besides Kami, you haven't wasted a trip all the way to Korin's tower."

"Good idea. I'll do that, instead." With that, the bald man picked up his sack, tied it to his head, and jumped straight out the window into the ocean, swimming north on his latest adventure.

**Author's note: Hi all. Thanks in advance for reading this fic. A few things I want to get straight from the very beginning.**

**1. This is a manga-based fanfic. As much as I love the old Funi dub anime, it does not do justice to Toriyama's work. So, for example: Goku was over 8,000, not 9,000. In fact, I have him at 8,320 during the fight with Vegeta.**

**2. As of now, I will include the following movies in the plot. Cooler's Revenge, Bojack Unbound, and Wrath of the Dragon. These movies do fit fairly well into the main canon timeline, and assuming this story stays close to that timeline far enough along, they will be featured. Obviously, the premise of this story is what would happen if the Dead Zone movie actually occurred, and Goku & Co. had to face a Raditz level opponent before Raditz came to earth.**

**3. I have my own theories and ideas on many aspects of the series. I try to stick as closely as possible to what is given in the manga, but I don't put much stock in other sources, so what happens in this story may not be exactly what you expect to happen if you've read a bunch of Dragonball fanfics or been on a Dragonball discussion forum for any length of time.**


	2. Chapter 2

Two months after Garlic Jr.'s failed attack.

"Hyah!" screamed Chi-chi, spinning into a kick at Goku's chest. Goku blocked her foot with a single finger, and threw her into a tree. He was standing calmly, not even in a fighting stance, with his right hand behind his back and just his little finger extended on his left.

"C'mon, Chi. You can do better than that. I'm only using one finger!" he taunted, as she kicked off the tree and leapt at him again. She began to punch, and he raised his pinky to block again. However, just before her fist made contact, Chichi spun into another kick. This time, her foot was glowing with concentrated ki. Goku, seeing the glow, knew he couldn't block that with just a finger, and dodged backwards, avoiding the kick.

"Hah! You dodged!" Chichi gloated, exultant that she had finally forced Goku to take the match a bit more seriously. She finished the rotation of the kick, and hovered in mid-air.

"Yeah? Well, you cheated. We said no ki blasts, and that kick was basically the same thing." pouted the fighter.

Chichi glared at him, and flared her aura as she gathered her ki. "The same as a blast? That was not the same as a blast. It never left my body, so it's a physical attack. This, however…" she cupped her hands to her side, and began to pool her charged ki into her hands. "Is a ki blast. Kaa…Mee…"

"H-hey, wait! I was only kidding. There's no reason to get carried away about this!" stammered Goku, crossing his arms in front of his face to block the oncoming attack.

"No reason!? Calling me a cheater is no reason?!" chichi yelled her response, gathering all the ki she could. "Ha-Me-HAAA!" she released the fully formed beam, which rushed at Goku with a head nearly five feet wide. Goku quickly dropped into a stance, and braced against the impact, using his full force to hold back the beam. With a yell, he spiked his ki into his arms, turning the beam and sending it flying harmlessly into the sky.

"Damn!" he said, rubbing his forearms, which were already beginning to swell into welts from the pressure. "You've got to be more careful, that could have actually hurt me!"

"That was the point, Knucklehead." Chichi rolled her eyes. Her husband could be such a baby sometimes. "It was time to finish, anyway. You've got that reunion over at Kame house to go to." She dropped to the ground, and stumbled a bit before catching her balance. "Whew. I'd better rest a bit, too. That last one took a lot out of me." She turned, and started walking back to their small house in the woods.

"Chichi, why don't you and Gohan come with me? I'm sure you'd have fun." Goku asked his wife as he followed her towards the house. He stripped off his shirt on the way, anticipating a nice hot bath to help his muscles relax before he headed out.

"Gohan can go if he's through with his math, but I'm going to stay, and get started on dinner. Besides, Roshi is a bit of a pervert. He makes me uncomfortable." She lit the fire under the tub behind the house for Goku, and turned to go inside. "Gohan, how far are you on your studies?" she called as she came through the door.

"I've finished math and grammar, and I was just about to start history." responded the precocious child. He was sitting at the kitchen table, several textbooks years ahead of his age stacked on his left neatly, and another open in front of him.

"Good. You can stop there for today. Go change into some nice clothes, you're going with your father to see his friends." Chichi opened the refrigerator, and started gathering various sauces and vegetables. "Actually, go down to the river and catch a fish, first. I have a new recipe I want to try."

"Alright!" exclaimed Gohan, happy to leave his schoolwork for the day. He raced outside, and flew over the forest to the river. Once there, he quickly stripped, folded his clothes neatly on the bank, and then dived in searching for a fish. Almost instantly, he saw one of the giant catfish native to the rivers of the Mt. Paozu region, and raced through the water to catch it. He grabbed the fish, which was about twice his own size, by the tail, and jumped out of the water, dragging it with him. He picked up his clothes in his free hand, and took off running through the woods, dragging the still struggling fish behind him. "Is this one big enough, Mom?" he asked, holding up the fish for her to inspect.

"It's perfect. Now go take a quick bath, and get changed." she took the fish from Gohan, and shooed him from the kitchen.

* * *

Piccolo, the reincarnated demon king, was standing on a ledge in the middle of a wasteland, meditating. He had been hard at work training after the encounter with Garlic, and he knew he had made a breakthrough. His power had increased more in the last two months than it had in the year beforehand, and he knew that unless Goku had done the same, he would finally be able to defeat his nemesis.

Suddenly, he felt something in the back of his mind. He whirled around, looking for the ki he detected. 'I sense... A great power! Is it Goku? No, but who is it?'

His question was soon answered, in the form of a longhaired stranger that flew in low, and then landed in front of him. The stranger frowned when he saw Piccolo. "Humph. You aren't Kakarot."

"And what being are you?" demanded Piccolo. "Do you have business with me?"

The strange man chuckled. "With the likes of you, no."

Piccolo scowled at his insolence. "Then why do you come here. Do you wish to die?"

The strange man laughed, and tapped a button on an odd eyepiece he wore. "Quite the feisty one, aren't you." the device over his eye beeped, and showed a series of strange symbols. "Humph. Power level 456. More than I expected on this mud ball, but you're no match for me."

"What!" shouted the infuriated piccolo, as he threw his hands wide, brushing his cape back. "Do you not know who you are insulting?"

The man smirked. "The appropriate question is, do I care?"

At this, Piccolo growled. "He thinks he's that powerful?" He quickly charged ki into his right hand, and braced it with his left. He fired a concentrated beam right at the cocky stranger who dared to disrespect him. The blast exploded against its target, throwing up a massive cloud of dust. Piccolo peered through it, trying to get a sense of how much damage he did.

When the dust cleared, however, the man hadn't moved an inch, and was completely unharmed. "A fine display of dust, if that was your intention!" he laughed at the stunned expression on piccolo's face. "Is it my turn? Maybe I should show you some real power." he raised his right hand, and began to pool his ki into his palm. However, just as he was about to fire, the device on his eye began beeping insistently. Releasing his held ki, he tapped a button on the machine, as another string of symbols was displayed. "Another large power. That must be Kakarot. Distance 12,909 that way." He took off flying to the east.

Piccolo picked himself off the ground, recovering from his fear. 'I was petrified.. Paralyzed. To think another power like that could exist, and would appear so soon after Garlic.'

* * *

_At Kame house, about 3 hours later._

Bulma hopped out of her hover jet, and crossed the beach on the tiny island to the front door of Kame house. Knocking twice, she called out, "Yo, anyone home?" She opened the unlocked door, and let herself in.

"Bulma!" greeted Krillin, who was standing behind the couch, holding a tray of drinks.

"Ohh-ohh." exclaimed Roshi, managing a pervy leer even through sunglasses.

"Long time, no see." responded Bulma, with a salute from the doorway.

"Cold one, ain't ya? You never come over unless we ask you." Roshi admonished.

"Yeah, well…" Bulma evaded, not wanting to embarrass the old man about his ways. "I'm here now. I brought tea cakes, even."

"Cakes? Aww." Roshi began to grin. "you didn't have to do that. I'd have been perfectly happy with a nice big ki-" the rest of his comment was cut off as Bulma slammed her fist into the side of his head. "Geez. Still no sense of humor, I see."

"Still as ornery as ever, I see." The blue haired woman retorted, rubbing her sore hand.

Krillin stepped in to defuse the growing tension. "By the way, Bulma. Where's Yamcha?"

"Yamcha? That jerk! You think I care, after what he did? Well, think again, pal! I'm better of without him, and so are you!" As she was shouting, she looked around, and noticed someone missing. "Forget about him, where's that 'Launch' chick?"

Krillin shrugged. "She went chasing after Tien five years ago. We haven't seen her since."

* * *

Outside, Goku and Gohan were just arriving on the nimbus, after a long flight. "See there?" Goku pointed at the pink house on the island. "that's Master Roshi's house." He jumped off the flying nimbus and landed, carrying Gohan in his arms. "Here we are." He said cheerfully, as he put Gohan on the ground. Goku was wearing another of his signature orange gi, complete with 120 kilograms of weight, while Gohan was in a looser black outfit, with his own set of 5-kilogram wristbands, belt, and boots, for a total of 25 kilograms. "Hey there!" Goku shouted.

Within seconds, Krillin, Roshi, and Bulma had crowded out onto the porch, with cries of "Goku!" and "Son!". Bulma was the first to notice Gohan. "Hey, so this must be Gohan." she crouched down, and held out her hand to the boy. "Nice to finally meet you, Gohan. My name is Bulma."

Gohan timidly reached out, and shook Bulma's hand. "H-hello, Ms. Bulma."

"Say, Gohan. How old are you?" Bulma asked.

"I'm four years and 1 month old," He said, holding up four fingers on one hand, and one on the other.

"He's awfully polite for a four-year old. Especially your four-year old, Goku." Bulma pointed out with a questioning look.

"Yeah, well. Chichi's been teaching him. She had him tested, and turns out he's some kind of genius." Goku laughed, scratching the back of his head. "I was barely able to get her to let me train him part-time."

Bulma happened to look down at Gohan just as he turned around to hug his father's leg, and noticed the tail sticking out from the back of his pants. "H-He has a tail?" she stammered.

"Yeah, same as I used to have." Goku replied, oblivious to the shiver that ran through his group of friends.

"Um… Goku" Ventured Roshi, the first one brave enough to ask what they were all thinking. "Has he ever seen the full moon?"

"No. we get to bed pretty early. Why?" Goku responded, curious at the strange question.

"Oh. Nothing! Nothing! Never mind." Roshi backed off, trying not to raise Goku's suspicions any further.

Goku was about to press the issue, when he felt a tingling at the back of his neck. He whipped around, searching for the massive power he could now feel heading towards them. A second later, Krillin and Roshi looked up too, as the large ki brushed against their senses, as well. "Someone's coming." Goku said, dropping into a fighting stance. "Someone strong… There!" He shouted, pointing upward toward the sun.

The strange, longhaired man dropped out of the sky, and landed in front of the group. "Well, hello again, Kakarot,'

_Author's note: and second chapter… done. This one was longer than the first, that's for sure. A couple of notes. Krillin, Goku, and piccolo are obviously stronger than their canon counterparts already, given that they've had a couple of months to progress. And of course, everyone already knows who Gohan is, even though only Krillin has actually seen him before now. Gohan isn't wearing the four star ball, because the dragon has just recently been used. And his ridiculous outfit was torn up in the fight against garlic Jr. (too bad.), so he's in his training outfit._


	3. Chapter 3

"My, my. All grown up, aren't we. Still, I'd know you anywhere, Kakarot. You look just like your father." the strange man with the spiky black hair continued, to the consternation of those crowded in front of the house. "Has something on this world distracted you, Kakarot? You're duty was to exterminate this species! What have you been playing at?"

Krillin was the first to recover from the shock of the man's arrival. He felt the man's gigantic ki, but was bolstered by the presence of his friends. With a confident strut, he walked up to the man, shaking his finger. "Look, pal. I don't know who you are, but scram… shoo. We don't need drunks like you hanging around the pla-"

BWAK! Krillin was knocked away by a flick of the visitor's furry tail, which until now had been wrapped around his waist. He was sent flying into the side of the house, decimating the front wall of the kitchen.

"Krillin!" screamed Goku, turning to check if his friend was okay. He looked unconscious, but he was breathing, at least. Seething, the warrior spun back to face the intruder, dropping into a combat stance in one fluid motion. "Why you-" suddenly, Goku realized exactly what he had seen, and spluttered in surprise. "A-a tail!? You've got a tail, just like I used to have!"

The visitor crossed his arms, and smirked. "And so now you know who I am."

Goku interrupted. "But, who are you?"

"You mean, you still don't know? Impossible. You could never have forgotten me… or our mission! What's happened to you, Kakarot? Did you take a blow to the head?" The stranger was now clearly agitated, confused at Goku's ignorance.

"Look, I don't know who this 'Kaka' guy you're talking about is, but I'm Son Goku!"

"You're insane! It must be a result of brain damage. Look. I'm Raditz, your older brother. We are saiyans, the most powerful race in the universe! We locate hospitable planets and sell them to other races looking for living space. But, to make those planets suitable for their future residents, we must first purge them of their native inhabitants. When a saiyan warrior is fully grown, he is sent to the most difficult worlds. but for weak worlds, like this one, we send our small children for training. It's lucky this world has a moon. You'd have cleared it out in a couple of years, if you hadn't hit your damn soft little head!" Raditz finished his speech, growing more impassioned with each word.

"wait a minute." Goku interjected. "what's the moon got to do with it?" at the mention of the moon, his companions, including Krillin, who had recovered enough to sit up, shuddered as they thought of the giant monkey Goku had become before.

"is your brain that badly damaged? Only when the moon draws a complete circle is the true power of the saiyans revealed!" Raditz paused, finally noticing that Goku had no tail. "Your tail! You've lost your tail! No wonder you've grown comfortable in the weaklings' world. My own brother is passing for one of them!"

"SHUT UP!" Goku screamed, unable to listen to Raditz any longer. "I don't care if you're my brother. I don't care if I'm an alien! People like you are just wrong! I'm Son Goku now. Get the hell off my planet!"

"You tell him, Goku!" Master Roshi piped up. "Nurture over nature! Goku's not just an earthling, he's the best damn earthling I know. He even saved this planet twice, so why don't you just leave!"

Raditz began chuckling at the show of support from the old man. "How do you expect me to do that? I suppose you've forgotten that Vegeta, our homeworld, was destroyed by a collision with an asteroid. Our entire race was reduced to space dust! Even our parents… Your parents, Kakarot. Of all our proud and mighty race, only four remain, including you. We survived because we were on other worlds, exterminating their natives. Because we were doing 'wrong', as you put it, we are alive." Here Raditz stopped, and blinked a few times before continuing. "We remaining three have found a planet which we know can be sold at a very high price. The locals, however, are potent. Even three saiyans might have some trouble. But four of us! Thank the gods I remembered you, eh? Even my long lost, ill-trained, amnesiac little brother should be enough to tip the scales. Picture it, Kakarot! Picture the carnage! Feel your saiyan blood stir!"

"I won't! Id rather die!" Goku yelled.

"Oh, is that so? But tell me something. Is that your whelp I see behind you? Or do all these miserable earthlings have tails?" Raditz started laughing at his own little joke as he stepped forward to grab Gohan.

"You leave him alone!" Goku sidestepped, keeping between his brother and his son. "One more step and I'll-" instantly Raditz disappeared from view. He kneed Goku in the gut, bringing him to his knees, grabbed Gohan by the collar of his shirt, and reappeared exactly where he had stood before anyone even had the chance to react.

"Listen closely. If you wish him returned to you alive, Kakarot, you will follow my orders. Is that clear? I'll give you a full earth day to, shall we say, agonize over it. When you decide to join us, we'll require proof of your good intentions. Kill 100 humans by this time tomorrow, and pile the bodies on this beach. I know you'll come through for me, brother. This is, after all, my only nephew. I'd hate to have to kill him. Do this, and we'll fly off into space to pile up a few million more dead bodies. Fail, and the only dead body will be yours."

Krillin stepped up, gritting his teeth. "You call yourself a warrior, using a kid as a hostage? If you think Goku would ever go and kill somebody, you're crazy!"

"The choice is his, if he values 100 humans over his son. I should warn you, though. After my comrades and I finish with that other world, we most certainly will return here to repeat the process. I'd give the inhabitants of your puny planet, oh, let's say a month once we begin the clean up process. Really, if you think about it, what difference does it make if Kakarot were to give 100 of you a head start. Do you see now, my dear younger brother? Your 'choice' is no choice at all! Make the right decision, for your sake, as well as his." with that, Raditz took to the air, pausing to say one last thing before leaving. "And also, please don't make the mistake of trying to fight me. Even if you had the power to defeat me, you haven't a fraction of the necessary training. Until tomorrow, Kakarot!" and with that, he was gone.

Krillin rushed over to Goku as soon as Raditz was out of sight. "Are you okay? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go after my son! Nimbus!" Goku answered, calling out for his magic cloud.

"Wait, don't go running off half cocked. You'll be killed!" shouted Roshi, jumping between Goku and the nimbus. "let's think of a plan. Wait! His tail! Remember when you were a kid, Goku? You used to get so weak when someone grabbed your tail. If you could crush it, his power will drop for sure."

"That great, and all, but how are you going to grab it?" Krillin asked, seeing the obvious hole in the plan.

"I can't. not by myself" Goku responded. " but if the three of us work together!"

"Hey, that's right. And if we both buy it, Bulma can just wish us back when the dragonballs are restored!" Roshi jumped in, getting excited at the prospect of being able to fight one more time.

"Sorry, Master Roshi, but she can't." Krillin said, hating to burst his teacher's bubble. "Kami told me while I was training with him that Shenron can't grant the same wish twice. If we die this time, death means death."

"Oh. D-death means death, huh?" Roshi stuttered, knowing full well that is was likely at least one of them would die in this fight. "W-well, death today, or death in a month. I guess I'd rather go down fighting." He shuddered, and then shook his head vigorously, bracing himself for the coming battle. "one question, though. How are we supposed to find him? I doubt he's just on the next island over."

"Perhaps I can assist you." Said a deep voice from around the corner of the house. "You stand no chance against this foe without me, anyway. I can sense him from here." Piccolo stepped into view, glaring at the assembled trio of fighters. "Goku, I expected more improvement from you over these last two months. You've been slacking."

Goku whirled around at his arch nemesis, and growled. "What do you want, Piccolo? Why would you help us?"

"It is a simple matter. I want to conquer this world. I can't do that if your brother destroys it. I will assist you in defeating him, but then we go back to the old way. Is that understood?"

Goku grinned. "Yeah. So, this is just like with Garlic. Damn, at this rate we'll be saved by Gohan again, too." Turning, he addressed his companions. "Master Roshi, Krillin, I want you to stay behind. Piccolo and I will be able to handle him, so there's no reason for you two to risk your lives."

"No way!" Krillin shouted. "I'm not letting you go off alone with Piccolo. He could turn on you the second you finish off Raditz. Besides, I'll be fine. I've trained with Kami, and I've developed a couple of techniques that would be useful against a stronger opponent."

Roshi hung his head, disappointed in himself, but also relieved that he wouldn't be dying that day. "I'll stay behind. I'm really not strong enough to do anything but get in the way. You two come back alive. Especially you, Krillin."

Goku nodded. "Alright, then. It's the three of us. Krillin, has Mr. Popo taught you how to fly yet?"

"Of course. How do you think I got here?" Krillin beamed, proud of his recent accomplishments.

"Then let's get going. I bet you two can't keep up with Nimbus!" With that, Goku jumped on the cloud and took off in the direction Raditz had flown.

* * *

"You let go of me!" Gohan cried, swinging feebly at Raditz. The man had carried him by the tail ever since he tried to bite him, shortly after they had left the island. The pain was almost unbearable, like that time he had fallen out of a tree, and landed with a rock between his legs. But he was fighting as best he could, despite not being able to focus well enough to summon even a little ki. He tried to grab Raditz arm, thinking to bite him again, but Raditz just shook his arm, causing a fresh wave of pain and nausea to sweep through the child.

"If you don't quit trying to fight me, I'll rip the damn thing off!" Raditz yelled at his nephew, growing increasingly frustrated at Gohan's antics, useless as they were. He landed in the crater his pod had caused when it landed, and tossed Gohan inside before locking the hatch. "That should hold you." Sure enough, even though Gohan pounded on the window with all his might, he couldn't even crack the hard plastic.

"Now to get some rest, and wait for tomorrow." He started to sit down to do just that, but his scouter beeped, signaling an increasing powerlevel nearby. He tapped a button on the side, and examined the readout. "710! Where could that be coming from?" turning in a slow, clockwise sweep, he scanned the surroundings. He made less that a quarter turn before the scouter beeped again, as he was facing his own pod, where Gohan was attacking the hatch with renewed vigor, almost fully recovered now that his tail was free. "Amazing! There's no way a kid should have that much power, even if he is a saiyan. Humph. If Kakarot decides to be stubborn, I may just have to take his brat instead. It will take a while to train him, but with that raw power, we could start using him sooner than normal."

With that, he plopped down on the ground, satisfied that one way or another, this mission would be a success. He would either have his brother back, or at the least have an effective new soldier. He had barely closed his eyes, however, when his scouter began beeping again, more stridently this time. "what is it now?" he complained, sitting up and reading the display. "What! Power level 1,040! Impossible! There can't be anyone on this planet that strong. Damn thing must be on the fritz." he was about to lay down again, but the readout suddenly changed, and one power level became 3 "Okay. 3 powers. 229, 355, and 456. The middle one is Kakarot, I know that. I think the big one must be that green guy. Don't know about the little one. I guess Kakarot must be stupid enough to try to fight me, but how did he know where to find me?" thinking back, he remembered that Kakarot and two of the humans on the island had been tracking him when he landed, even though he came with the sun behind him. "Could it be that these humans have some way to sense powers without instruments?"

* * *

Goku, Piccolo, and Krillin arrived shortly after, and landed, guards up and ready for a fight. "What have you done with my son?" Goku asked Raditz, who was standing at the edge of the crater.

"Why, nothing, dear brother. I just put him inside my ship for safekeeping." Raditz replied, waving his hand at the small pod within the crater. "If you want him, you are free to have him. If, of course, you can get through me. You were a fool to come here, Kakarot. I didn't want to kill you, but I can see you won't cooperate. So after I'm through slaughtering you and your friends, I'll be taking your son with me. He's powerful, but he's just a baby. I'm sure we can mold him into a proper saiyan warrior."

"You leave my son out of this!" Goku screamed. "Your fight is with me, so act like a warrior and fight me like a man!"

"As you wish." Raditz smirked, and rushed the trio, only to disappear. He reappeared behind them, and kicked piccolo and Krillin away, before punching Goku right between the shoulder blades. Goku was sent stumbling forward, before Raditz quickly flew in front of him, caught his face in one hand, and slammed him into the ground. Raditz jumped back and laughed. "If that's the best you three can do, you're pathetic. I'm wasting my time even bothering to fight you."

Goku got up, and jumped backwards, landing in a combat stance. Krillin was hovering in midair, having caught himself before he hit the ground, and he flew back to land beside Goku. Piccolo had to dig himself out of a furrow caused by him hitting the ground, but was otherwise okay.

"The bastard's toying with us!" he fumed, before grabbing his turban in one hand and his cloak in the other. With one smooth motion, he pulled both off, and threw them to the ground.

"So, you're taking off the weights already?" Goku asked. "I guess we are going to need all the speed we can get against this guy." with that, he rolled the wristbands off his arms, and used his feet to take off his boots, keeping an eye on Raditz the whole time. Then, he pull off his shirt, and the weighted undershirt. Beside him, Krillin was doing the same, with a similar set of weights.

"So, you were wearing weights?" Raditz mused. He tapped his scouter, which displayed their updated power levels. "287, 458, and 588. That's better. You still don't have a chance against me, of course, but at least I might get a decent warm up out of you."

"Hey, Krillin. You said you had some techniques that might help against him?" asked Goku hopefully. "He's really a monster, and the best I've got would just hold him off a little."

"You've been slacking, Goku." Piccolo said, jumping into the conversation before Krillin had a chance to answer. "I don't know about the dwarf, but I've got a trick up my sleeves that's sure to kill him. It will take a couple of minutes to charge up, though. I was hoping to test this on you, but I guess I can settle for your brother."

"Hey, I'm not a dwarf!" shouted Krillin, who was in fact, a full two inches above the maximum height to be considered a dwarf. "That's about what I've got, too. I can kill him if I can hit him, but he'll need to be distracted, first."

"So it's up to me, huh? Well, I've got a little trick for myself. I can hold him off for a bit, but you two will have to be the ones to get him." Goku said, before dropping into a deep stance. He began to draw his power out, as his aura flared up around him. Groaning with the strain, he continued to pull out his power to the maximum, and then turned it inwards, infusing it into his muscles. His veins stood out, and his aura swirled wildly, picking up dust and small rocks from the ground. With a yell, he forced his power back into his body, and his muscles swelled under the strain. His aura stabilized, and while he was slightly out of breath, Goku was clearly much more powerful than before. "I remembered Master Roshi doing something like this when he fought Tien at the 22nd Budokai, and I figured out how to do it myself."

With that, Goku took off, flying at Raditz with his fist cocked back. He tried to punch Raditz, but the saiyan warrior just ducked out of the way, before whipping his tail around and smacking Goku across the face, sending him flying backwards. Goku darted forward again, focusing all his ki into his left fist, before punching with a supersonic jab. But Raditz blocked this attack, catching Goku by the wrist and throwing him over his shoulder.

"That's a nice ability you have, but it's no good against me. I told you, you don't have the power to defeat me, nor a fraction of the necessary training." radtiz said, as he turned to face the still prone Goku.

"Kienzan!" yelled Krillin, as he took his chance at Raditz' momentary distraction. He threw a circular blade of condensed ki. The blade spun noisily, with a buzzing sound as it sliced through the air, flying directly at Raditz. Raditz spun around at the sound of the shout, and ducked out of the way of the blade at the last second. The blade went sailing past, trailing a few severed black hairs behind it, and cut through a nearby hill.

"Why you little!" Raditz yelled, realizing how close he had come to serious injury. He quickly charged a massive blast of ki, nearly 6 feet across, and pitched it as fast as he could straight at Krillin. The bald monk barely had time to get his hands up with the tiniest glow of charged ki before the blast detonated on impact, throwing him backwards. He was miraculously intact but clearly unconscious, or worse.

"Gotcha!" Goku yelled, springing up with renewed vigor, grabbing Raditz at the base of his tail. "This is why I got rid of mine. It hurts so bad when someone grabs it, you can't fight."

Raditz had frozen, the pain unbearable. His knees were weak and wobbly, and he was barely able to keep on his feet. "OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!" he screamed. "Let me go, you dirty cheater! That hurts!"

"Cheater? You took my son to try to force me to help you kill innocent people, but I'm the cheater? You're a filthy, honorless piece of scum who pretends to be a warrior. You hide behind children and family because you're too much of a coward to face me head on, even though you're three times my power." Goku squeezed the tail, earning another scream from Raditz. "I'm going to make you pay for the pain you've caused me, my family, my friends, and all the people of all the worlds you've killed." Goku began to scream, as he powered up even higher than he had so far. "You said I don't have the power? You're wrong. I'll show you power." he forced his body to produce even more ki than it had already, and channeled that ki into his muscles, expanding them even further. He swelled out, increasing his muscle mass until he looked like nothing so much as a walking steroid advertisement.

"Please! Brother. Spare me. I swear I'll change. I'll go, and live peacefully. I'll never kill another person again!" Raditz pleaded. By this time he had been forced to his knees by Goku's ever tightening grip on his tail, waves of pain crashing over each other throughout his body.

"Brother? I told you. I have no brother. You won't change, you won't leave peacefully." Goku finished his ascension, now living tower of muscle. His ki had skyrocketed to a full 3 times his normal level, making him even more powerful that Raditz. His strength had increased as well, and the simple hold he'd had on Raditz' tail had tightened into a death grip, crunching the bones and crushing the soft tissue. "this si the end for you, Raditz. I can't let you go, you're too dangerous." Goku pulled back his right hand, and unleashed fully cocked punch directly into Raditz' back. He had underestimated his own enhanced strength, though. His punch sent Raditz flying away, his tail still in Goku's left hand.

"AHHHH!" Raditz screamed at the fresh wave of pain. But he quickly realized that while his backside hurt more than ever, the rest of him was swiftly recovering, now that he was free of his brother's grasp. "You tore off my tail! Damn you, it could take years to grow back!" he stood up, and dusted himself off. He had a massive bruise already forming between his shoulder blades, and his power had dropped considerably from the loss of his tail, but he was still able to fight. He cracked his neck, and shook his hands out. "You made your last mistake, Kakarot. I won't hold back anymore. It's personal now."

He vanished from view, and reappeared behind Goku, who was already starting to turn. Goku had a ki blast charged in his right hand, ready to blast Raditz, but Raditz was having non of it. He punched Goku in the stomach, causing him to double over. he then kicked him in the head, knocking him onto his back and causing him to lose focus on the ki he'd charged. Before Goku could recover, Raditz appeared above him, and slammed down into him feet first, cracking several ribs even through Goku's massive muscles. Goku coughed from the impact, trying desperately to get some air back into his lungs, but Raditz wouldn't let up, and kicked him in the head for good measure, snapping his neck. Goku rapidly deflated, returning to his original form as the life faded from his eyes.

"Now, for you, green man." Raditz said, an evil smirk on his face as he faced piccolo. To his surprise though, Piccolo hadn't moved from the same position he had started the fight in, a deep combat stance, with the first two fingers of his right hand pointed at his forehead. "What are you up to? Do you think you can gather enough energy to harm me?"

"Actually, yes. Yes I do." Piccolo remarked, a wide grin on his face. He brought his hand down, and pointed it straight at Raditz, as he chanted the name of his new attack. "Makankosappo!" a thin ray shot out of his fingers, flying at incredible speeds towards Raditz, as a second ray spiraled around the first. Raditz' scouter barely registered the attack "What!? Over 2,000!" before he attempted to dodge the incredible attack. In his weakened state, he wasn't quite fast enough, however. As he dodged to the side, the beam pierced dead center through his right bicep, crippling his arm.

"YOU LOWLIFE TRASH! Look what you did to my arm!" He screamed, furious that these weaklings were actually able to hurt him. He began to slowly advance on Piccolo, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, doing his best to ignore the pain.

"Damn… it. I.. put everything… I had… in that attack." Piccolo wheezed, exhausted from the focused effort he had put forth.

"You've got nothing left. I'm going to rip you limb from limb when I get over there." Raditz taunted, picking up the pace when he realized his opponent was practically helpless.

"Yeah. I don't think you're going to get over there, though. Just my opinion, though." Came an unexpected voice from right under him. Radtiz looked down, only to see a flash of blinding light accompanied by a shout "Solar Flare!" he stumbled back, but before he could even begin to recover, a piercing beam dug into the bruise on his back before exploding right under the skin.

"Damn, that was close. He almost stepped on my head." Krillin said as he got up off the ground. "I wasn't sure I was going to get a chance to hit him before he got to you, Piccolo."

"You were awake that whole time?" Piccolo asked, dumbfounded. "why didn't you stop him before he killed Goku?"

"Well, to be honest. I was kind of dazed, at first. The explosion from that blast hit me harder than I expected it to." Krillin replied sheepishly. "Besides, it's no big deal. We can wish him back as soon as the dragon balls reactivate."

"What exactly makes you think I'm just going to let you walk away from here, twerp?" Piccolo clenched his fists, and got into a combat stance.

"Simple. I'm nearly fresh, and you're completely exhausted. You couldn't fight me now if your life depended on it. The only reason I don't kill you is because we need the dragonballs to revive Goku." Krillin answered, shrugging his shoulders and dusting off his uniform.

"What's this about.. Ack.. Ack. Reviving.. Kakarot?" Raditz managed to cough out from the ground.

"Oh. You're still alive? I figured that hole in your back would have killed you." Krillin asked, feeling high on his first victory since he defeated Chiaotzu in the 22nd Budokai. "Well, we've got these things on earth called dragonballs. They can grant any wish, but only one per year. When they reactivate in a few months, we can use them to wish Goku back to life. So really, you completely lost today." At this Krillin stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelids at Raditz.

"Heh, heh, heh. You fool. It's you who've lost today. My scouter acts as a communicator, too. The other two surviving saiyans just heard everything you said. I'd bet that, in about a year. They'll be here to kill you all, and make their own wish to revive me. The best part is, you barely managed to beat me, but each of them is far more powerful than I am. Ack. Ack. Ack." Raditz coughed a few more times, and then died.

* * *

_Author's note: another chapter done. Almost 5,000 words this time. So, before any questions are asked about it, I'll go ahead and explain a couple things that I think will get some comments._

_1. Goku gets big, but he's not a super saiyan._

_Like Goku said, Master Roshi does something like the super saiyan grade forms (what Vegeta and Trunks did against Cell) both when he uses the full power kamehameha, and, to a lesser extent, when he fights tien at the 22__nd__ Budokai. Of course, cell does the same thing, and even frieza does something similar when he powers up to his max. my opinion is that since 6 different characters (including Goku in the room of spirit and time) from 3 different races (does cell count as his own race for this? If so, then 4 races) can do the same thing, and get the same effects, it's not really a transformation, but a very simple, very basic technique that anyone with a little ki manipulation skill could do if they knew how. The way it works is that instead of allowing their ki to flow naturally, they force it into their muscles faster than it can flow back out. This causes the muscles to expand, which increases strength, and causes the ki coming out to be under pressure, amplifying any ki based effects. The downside is that speed does not increase as fast as power, so while Goku may be 50% more powerful, he's only about 30% faster. With the second grade, agility actually decreases, because the muscles are too bulky to allow normal movement. The other downside is, of course, stamina. Using this technique burns through ki very quickly. While I didn't go into great detail with this, this is why Goku was able to detect Raditz' movements in the second grade, but not able to effectively react to them, despite being much more powerful that Raditz at that point._

_2. Goku didn't spare Raditz. _

_This is the second time in 2 months Gohan has been kidnapped. Goku would be understandably pissed._

_Comment: Interesting. To be honest, I'd guess the fight with Raditz to go the same for the most part except that Goku could probably be capable of matching Raditz._

_Answer: the battle went a little differently. I'd actually decided back in chapter one that Krillin would be the one to kill Raditz, and that Goku would use ki weighting to match Raditz' power. Also, Gohan didn't need to save the day twice in a row. On a side note I had debated whether to have Krillin or Piccolo be the one to die, but Piccolo needs to be around for the dragonballs, and Krillin can't come back without a Sue-like exception to the rules. So, Goku had to die._

_Now, for those that need them, power levels for canon and EA for this time period._

_Chichi: 172, canon 124_

_Gohan: 710, canon 710 (he's learned a bit about controlling his power, but he hasn't actually gained any yet)_

_Goku: 457, canon 416_

_Ki weighted, grade 1: 686_

_Ki weighted, grade 2: 1372_

_Krillin: 287, canon 206_

_Piccolo: 588, canon 408_

_Piccolo's makankosappo: 2,075, canon 1330_

_Raditz :1250, canon 1250_

_No tail: 838_

_Roshi 142, canon 137_


End file.
